View report page

280
A comparison of the incidence of dental deformities and
physical deformities in school children shows that the incidence of
malocclusion in the school child is almost as high as that of other
deformities of the body. The need of an orthodontic clinic is thus
evident.
The number of sessions devoted to orthodontia totalled 39, and
504 attendances were made, which averages 16 cases per session.
The number of children under treatment during the year was 203,
i.e., 2.7 per cent. of the total number treated at all clinic sessions,
and it can therefore be said that the Orthodontic Clinic is maintaining
the proper perspective in relation to other work of the
school dental service. To facilitate the working of the orthodontic
sessions and to allow as many new cases as possible to be treated,
verbal appointments are made after the ordinary routine session
cases have been dealt with. The number of such appointments
was 1,546. During the year 63 cases were completed and 190
removable and 10 fixed appliances inserted.
The total number of children treated since the inception of the
scheme is 581—of this number 167 were treated by extraction only
and 414 children by orthopraxy (dental appliances). In the orthodontic
treatment by the extraction of teeth only the number of
permanent teeth removed totalled 41. There are some cases which
require X-Ray diagnosis, and these are sent to Mayday Hospital.
In all, nine cases were radiographed.
The scheme has been in operation for over four years and has
provided treatment for a large number of children of indigent
parents who would have been unable to attend a private practitioner
or dental hospital because of the expense. It has been the policy
to refer any cases in which it was felt that the parent could afford
treatment to the private practitioner.
Although the conservation of the teeth is the chief aim of the
school dental service the value of orthodontic treatment as an aid
to conservative dentistry is undoubted. The filling of teeth in overcrowded
mouths is largely a palliative measure, and further treatment
is required very soon, unless one of the chief causes of decalcification
of teeth is removed.
The charge made for treatment is 15s. per child, and this
covers the cost of all the appliances required. It has been found
possible to ran this scheme without incurring additional